Rotary disk humidifiers have been commercially available for decades. They generally include a stack of flat circular disks that are mounted closely spaced and parallel to one another on a central shaft that rotates and immersed in a water reservoir so that as the disks rotate through the water bath, air flows across the disks above the water bath entraining water vapor in the air stream and thereby humidifying air exiting from the humidifier.
However, no attempt insofar as the present inventor is aware, has been made to optimize the wetted area of the disks exposed to air flowing through or across the disks.
For example, in the Burns, U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,505, a humidifier is disclosed with a spaced stack of annular disks rotated through a water bath with an axial flow inlet 44 that drives air axially through the center of the disks, which air is blocked by a plate 26 to cause the air to turn radially across the disks. No attempt or discussion is contained in the Burns patent relating to optimizing the wetted area of the stacked disks 10.
The Persons, U.S. Pat. No. 2,054,039, shows an axial to radial flow air conditioning system in FIG. 2A and what appears to be a radial-inlet to radial-outlet system in FIG. 2. But again, no attempt is made by Persons to optimize the wetted area of the disks exposed to air. The same is true of the Persons, U.S. Pat. No. 2,060,636.
In the Tamm, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,517, a method for moistening air is disclosed including a plurality of stacked disks rotatable in a reservoir with water illustrated in FIG. 2, with the water level shown at FIG. 9. This is an extremely low water level and provides a very narrow wetted area of the disks above the water level.
The deficiency in Tamm is also shown in the McElreath, U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,922, relating to a humidifier, and this system makes no attempt to optimize the wetted area of the disks.
The Filss, U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,597, shows a plurality of circular plates but the system is designed not for humidification, but for purifying gasses, and therefore, is not relevant to the present invention.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in the prior art and to optimize the wetted area Awe of humidifier disk stacks in a humidifier.